The phone is called the Samsung Z3 because it offers “a significant jump from the earlier Samsung Z1 in terms of specifications,” according to Asim Warsi, a vice president for Samsung’s India mobile business.

Too many. Each transition makes it harder to follow the basics: product intent, attributes, advantages. In total, they make it harder for the presentation director to piece together “one complete thought”, to borrow a phrase from Jimmy Iovine.

Approach

Eddy Cue […] was giving us a demo of the music app. It felt like a presentation of a music service by people who don’t understand how to present services and so they just presented an app and showed the music service inside the app… Yes, we know how the music app works, but is the big story here that they revamped the music app, or that there’s a [new] music service backing it? It felt like, at times, that the music app was the story.

Direction (as in, from a Director)

Ultimately, the issues above are symptoms of weak (or hand-cuffed) direction. Not just in the form of what to do (e.g., don’t have Eddy Cue focus on the app) but also in terms of what not to do – i.e., editing. Editing in this context: shortening the list of presenters, directing them to use fewer slides (at one point, they flashed by like pages in a flip book), and saying no to distracting uses of humor and movement. When viewed through this lens, I think this keynote lacked a director. Or at least one that could effectively influence the senior executives and the choices they made. (Believe me, I’m not saying any of this is easy.)

Will all this impact the products’ success? Not directly. Indirectly, however, key influencers of consumers (developers, fans, and journalists) may get a fuzzier picture of Apple’s intent or advantage. They might also spend more time discussing stagecraft and less time discussing products. And that will make it a topic of conversation and monitoring the next time, too. Basically, distraction carries an opportunity cost.

By the way: I thought Apple’s newest presenters – Jennifer Bailey (Apple Pay), Susan Prescott (News app), and Kevin Lynch (Apple Watch; he’s still new-ish) – I thought they did the best job. They were focused, on-pace, used humor sparingly, and didn’t say or do things to take attention away from their main points.

The problem with wearable technology might just be that nobody particularly wants it. Not if you call it “wearable technology,” that is. That’s the conclusion proffered by Marcus Weller, the chief executive and cofounder of Skully, the maker of a “smart” motorcycle helmet. […]

In fact, one of his most useful and actionable observations — especially for an audience full of people making wearable tech products — is that the word “wearable” really doesn’t work in marketing campaigns. It’s actually off-putting.

Instead, Weller advises wearable makers to focus on what their product enables customers to do: Ride safely, enjoy life better, have more fun, or be more productive.